BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    




                   Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
                           Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair

                                           346 (Kehoe)
          
          Hearing Date:  05/26/2009           Amended: 05/20/2009
          Consultant:  Brendan McCarthy   Policy Vote: EQ 5-2














































          SB 346 (Kehoe)
          Page 2


          _________________________________________________________________ 
          ____
          BILL SUMMARY: SB 346 would reduce the use of copper and other  
          heavy metals in automobile brake friction materials starting in  
          2014. The bill provides for a fee on brake friction materials  
          sold in the state to fund the activities specified in the bill.
          _________________________________________________________________ 
          ____
                            Fiscal Impact (in thousands)

           Major Provisions         2009-10      2010-11       2011-12     Fund
           
          New fee revenues                  ($7,000)    ($14,000) Special  
          *

          DTSC - developing criteria,       $35         $260       
          $850Special *          
            establishing baseline data                            

          SWRCB - reporting                             up to $250Special  
          *

          OEHHA - reporting                             up to $160Special  
          *

          Grants for water quality                      $6,700     
          $12,740Special *
            improvement

          * Brake Friction Materials Water Pollution Fund (new special  
          fund).
          _________________________________________________________________ 
          ____

          STAFF COMMENTS: 
          
          SB 346 would reduce the use of copper and other heavy metals in  
          automobile brake friction materials (for example, brake pads).  
          After January 2014, the bill would prohibit the sale of brake  
          friction materials which contain certain heavy metals in  
          concentrations over specified limits. After January 2021, the  
          bill would prohibit the sale of brake friction materials  
          containing more than 5% copper by weight. After January 2032,  
          the bill would prohibit the sale of brake friction materials  
          containing more than 0.5% copper by weight. Beginning in 2014,  







          SB 346 (Kehoe)
          Page 2


          the bill requires brake friction material manufacturers to  
          obtain certification of their compliance with the requirements  
          of the bill.

          The bill would require the Department of Toxic Substances  
          Control to perform a baseline survey of various heavy metals in  
          brake friction materials and then to perform periodic monitoring  
          of those metals. If the concentration of any of those metals  
          rise more than 50% over the baseline level, the bill requires  
          the Department consult with the State Water Resources Control  
          Board and/or the Office of Environmental Health Hazard  
          Assessment on the impacts of those changes.

          Beginning in January 2011, the bill requires the Department to  
          assess a fee of $1 per set of brake friction materials sold in  
          the state to fund the regulatory requirements of the bill,  
          including outreach, monitoring, regulatory costs, and  
          environmental mitigation of metals covered by the bill.  
          (Currently, the number of brake friction material sets sold in  
          the state is estimated to be about 14 million per year.)

          In January 2012 and every year thereafter, the bill requires the  
          Department to adjust the fee level for inflation. In January  
          2016 and every two years thereafter, the bill requires the  
          Department to adjust the fee, such that total revenues fall  
          between $13 million and $16 million per year (in 2011 dollars). 

          The bill requires that revenues generated from the fee be used  
          to implement the requirements of the bill and for grants to  
          improve water quality in water bodies that receive runoff  
          containing pollution from brake friction materials.

          Staff notes that some of the expenditures under the bill will  
          occur before the fee is enacted. Those costs can be covered by  
          the existing balance in the Hazardous Waste Control Account,  
          until sufficient fee revenues are generated to repay the fund.